Lesson 14

FAITH PT. 1

Table of Contents

– By Grace
– Faith
– Come to God

Scriptures Cited:

Ephesians 2:8, Genesis 5:8, Luke 1:67-77, Acts 2:38, Hebrews 11:1-3, Mark 2:1-5, Exodus 6:5, Exodus 12:1-13, Hebrews 11:4-5, Genesis 5:22, Hebrews 11:6-7, 1 Peter 3:18-20, Mark 16:16, Acts 8:26-38

BY GRACE

In this lesson we will take a look into God’s word to see what we can learn about Faith according to the Bible. Hopefully we will find some things that will help us understand and grow in our relationship with God. It is always good whenever we have the opportunity to study God’s word, because His word IS good.

Let’s begin in the book of Ephesians, and we’re going to chapter 2 and verse 8.

Ephesians 2:8
⁸ For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

You may recall that we reviewed this scripture in our Grace lessons (part one and two). In those lessons, we focused on the “for by grace” portion of that scripture to gain a better understanding of the Bible’s definition of grace.

We looked at the first example of someone being saved by grace through faith, which is Noah (Genesis 5:8). By studying that example, we saw the way that grace operated: God made Himself known to Noah, by telling him what He was going to do (flood the earth) and gave him instructions for how to be saved. By believing God and following His instructions, Noah and his family were saved.

We also looked at the ultimate example of God’s grace, which came through Jesus Christ. In like manner, God made Himself known and told us what He is going to do (resurrection and then judgement). Also by His grace, He gave us instructions on what we must do to be saved. And if by faith we obey those instructions, then we will be saved.

Let’s quickly look at one more scripture that reflects this same nature of God’s saving grace in the New Testament. In Luke chapter 1 a prophecy is given beginning in verse 67, but our main focus will be in verse 77.

Luke 1:67-76
⁶⁷ And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, ⁶⁸ Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, ⁶⁹ And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; ⁷⁰ As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: ⁷¹ That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;

Note: In the deepest prophetic sense this is not talking about physical enemies. The true enemies of our soul are sin, Satan, and death

⁷² To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; ⁷³ The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, ⁷⁴ That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, ⁷⁵ In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.

⁷⁶ And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;

The child spoken of here is John the Baptist, who came prior to Jesus, preparing the way of salvation by baptizing. We see this further explained as we continue to read in verse 77…

Luke 1:77
⁷⁷ To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,

So there it is. As previously stated, the grace of God comes to give us what we need to know to be saved – and here we see that it was prophesied that John the Baptist would come before the Lord to do just that. He would give people knowledge of salvation. He was going to tell the people what they must do to be saved, as it says “to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins”.

So now that Salvation has come by way of Jesus, how do we receive the remission of our sins? Is it simply by believing? Well, by looking at the example of the very first Christians, it is clear that the remission of sins takes place when we are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, as it says in Acts 2:38 “for the remission of sins”.

This way of salvation did not just begin with Peter on the day of Pentecost, and it did not begin with Jesus’ ministry. God spoke of this plan at the birth of John the Baptist. And in reality, this “way” that was to come, had been prophesied all the way back in the book of Isaiah. The Lord was going to show the way of salvation and the way to receive remission of sins, first through John the Baptist by repentance and baptism.

That was just one more example and a brief review of what we saw in the “Grace” lessons. God gives us the knowledge of salvation (how to be saved), and what we do with that knowledge will determine whether or not we truly have received His grace.

Turning our attention back to Ephesians 2:8, some have taken the phrase “by grace… through faith” and turned it into a very catchy ‘slogan’ about salvation: “By Grace alone, through Faith alone, in Christ alone”. And as we saw in the last lesson “One Life to Live,” a catchy phrase or slogan like this may sound good but can be shown as false when examined against all that the Bible teaches.

It is very dangerous to believe in anything that is false because, as the Bible tells us, we must believe with our heart. But if our heart is filled with falsehood and deceptive sayings it becomes difficult to later receive the truth, because a lie has now filled the place where the truth belongs. Belief in things that are false can easily take you off course in your faith, your life, your actions – and most importantly, your salvation. 


So, as previously stated, we have already looked at Ephesians 2:8 through the lens of grace. Now, in this lesson we will look through the lens of faith to learn what the biblical definition of faith is based on the context we find throughout the scripture.

“…by grace are ye saved through faith;”

FAITH

We will begin in the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, which contains the clearest ‘definition’ of faith that we see in the Bible. Some people have even named this chapter the “Hall of Faith” because it is full of so many examples of biblical faith. So, by looking here, we can begin to learn what faith actually is and what faith looks like. Hebrews chapter 11, starting at verse 1, reads:

Hebrews 11:1
¹ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Let’s stop for a moment and think of what this verse is saying. It says faith is the substance, and it is also evidence of things that are not seen. So by inference, we can understand that faith, if it is the substance and the evidence of things not seen – then faith itself must be something that is able to be seen. For it to be evidence and for it to be substance of things unseen, we must be able to see it. That is why it is evidence and substance. Continuing on to verse 2:  

Hebrews 11:2-3
² For by it the elders obtained a good report. ³ Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

We see here that this faith is how the elders (saints of the Old Testament) obtained a good report. In other words, this is why they are reported to us as faithful saints and examples. 

Keep in mind the definition of faith that we saw in verse 1 of Hebrews chapter 11. Faith is evidence and it is substance. It is something that can be seen. It is evidence of something unseen. Now, what I want to do is expand on that a little bit by going to the book of Mark in chapter 2, where we will see an example of faith in operation. This example however, has to do with Jesus. In Mark 2, beginning in verse 1, we read.

Mark 2:1-4
¹ And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.

Note: Jesus was in the house…

² And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them. ³ And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.

Note: Meaning he was carried by four people, because he was unable to walk

⁴ And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.

So, they couldn’t get in because there were so many people who wanted to see and hear Jesus, that they literally took the roof off the house to let this man down who was sick of the palsy. And now verse 5:

Mark 2:5
⁵ When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.

This is the main verse that I want to focus on here. Remember as we just read in Hebrews – faith is something that is evidence of things that are unseen, meaning that faith can be seen. And here we have Jesus, when He saw them lowering the man in, it says Jesus “saw their faith“. Faith is something that you are able to see.

Another example that we will go to is in the Old Testament book of Exodus. The reason we are looking there is because in the book of Exodus, we have a foreshadowing of the salvation that was to come. The children of Israel were in bondage in Egypt, and that normally is considered a symbolism of our bondage to sin. And the salvation that the Lord brought for the children of Israel through the Passover, is a foreshadowing of the salvation that He would bring to us through Jesus Christ.

Going to the book of Exodus, we will see the Lord speaking to Moses while the children of Israel were still slaves in Egypt. The slavedrivers were making their work even harder, and in Exodus chapter 6 verse 5, we hear the response of God to their suffering.

Exodus 6:5
⁵ And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant.

In this verse God says that He has heard their cry. This lets us know that He already knew the people whom He would later save. But simply crying out to God, and even being heard by Him was not how He would deliver them from their slavery.

After God struck Egypt with nine plagues that did not convince Pharoah to let His people go, we see what God ultimately did to deliver His people from their oppressors through the Passover in Exodus chapter 12. As we read, remember what we’ve learned so far about God’s saving grace coming through instruction and faith being seen.

Exodus 12:1-11
¹ And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, ² This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. ³ Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:

⁴ And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. ⁵ Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:

Note: This is a foreshadowing of the salvation that would come to us. As we know, Jesus is the lamb slain from the foundation, and here we see the Passover lamb as the foreshadow

⁶ And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. ⁷ And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. ⁸ And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

⁹ Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. ¹⁰ And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. ¹¹ And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’S passover.

Notice that they were to eat the lamb with their shoes on and staff in hand. This was because what God was going to do through the Passover would cause Pharaoh to release the people, and when this happened they needed to be ready to move. It also lets us know that when we receive our deliverance, it is not the end – it is actually the beginning of our walk. We have to be ready to walk with the Lord once we are delivered.

Exodus 12:12
¹² For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.

Here we see another aspect of God’s grace. He is letting them know what He is going to do. He has already told them what they need to do to be safe – ‘Get a lamb, kill it, eat it, put the blood on the doorpost because I am coming with judgement on Egypt’. That is an example of God’s grace towards them. And then verse 13 is the key point that we are getting to:

Exodus 12:13
¹³ And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are:
and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

This is the main point in relation to this Faith lesson. We have already seen in Exodus 6 that God knew the people that He was going to save. He knew the people who were calling out for deliverance and told them what they needed to do. And if they wanted to be safe from God’s judgement, they had to strike the blood of the lamb on their house.

Even though God knew them, they had to believe the instruction given to them. It was because they believed God that they obeyed what He commanded them to do. And we see God telling them “When I see the blood, I will pass over”. This was how their faith was seen. God saw their faith by the blood applied to the doors of their houses.

We will now go back to the book of Hebrews to look at a couple of the examples of biblical faith given in Hebrews chapter 11, known as the ‘Hall of Faith’. It will take us through the Old Testament, giving us example after example of what faith really is and how faith works. And this begins right outside of the garden, going all the way back to Cain and Abel as the first example.

Hebrews 11:4
⁴ By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

This lets us know what Abel did by faith: he offered a better sacrifice than Cain did. We see the next example in verse 5, also found in the book of Genesis.

Hebrews 11:5
⁵ By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

What I want you to notice is the pattern that we see here. It is: ‘by faith’, then we are given a person (Abel, Enoch, etc.) and then there is a VERB given – they did something. The first example says ‘by faith Abel offered…’ Next, “by faith Enoch was translated…’, and the reason that he was translated was because he pleased God. We could go further and look at the testimony of Enoch found in Genesis 5:22 which tells us that he walked with God. That is what he did by faith.

You will see this pattern repeated over and over. Going on to verse 6, still speaking of faith.

Hebrews 11:6
⁶ But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

So, with that verse we can see that as it says – without faith it is impossible to please God. But pay close attention, because it lets us know that ‘faith’ and ‘pleasing God’, though they are connected – they are two different things.

Also, ‘faith’ and ‘coming to God’, even though these are connected – they are two different things as well. So it is by faith that we come to God, but simply having faith is not the same thing as coming to God. There is a difference between the two, which will become more apparent as we continue reading. We will look a bit deeper at the example given in verse 7. Again, this is to help us know what faith actually is and looks like.

Hebrews 11:7
⁷ By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

So again we see here – “by faith, Noah” – what did Noah do by faith? He prepared an ark. By faith he did something. That’s how his faith was seen, by what he did. He prepared that ark after he was warned, which takes us back to what we learned in our study of grace. The first example we saw in the Bible of someone being saved by grace through faith, was Noah.

What is also interesting to note here is that we normally think of Abraham as the first who inherited righteousness or had righteousness imputed to him by faith. But here we can see that Noah also became the “heir of righteousness, which is by faith.” Because, when he was warned by God, he believed and he acted on what was told to him.

So, staying with what we know about Noah, let’s go to 1 Peter chapter 3. And we’re going to get a little more information on how this example of faith applies to us. 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 18 reads:

1 Peter 3:18-20
¹⁸ For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: ¹⁹ By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; ²⁰ Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

²¹ The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

Verse 20 says that Noah was saved by water, though we generally understand that it was the ark which God had instructed Noah to build that kept him safe from the judgement upon the earth.

The phrase “saved by water” in verse 20 isn’t saying that the water itself saved Noah. The word “by” is the Greek word δι “diá” (Strongs G1223) which is a preposition meaning: “through, across, from point to point; completely.” Some translations read that ‘Noah was saved, through water.’ It could even be understood that ‘Noah was saved, passing through the water.’

So, what does it mean when Peter writes “The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us“? Well, we know that baptism has to do with water, and here he is speaking of the salvation that has now come to us through Christ.

One way that our salvation now is like Noah’s salvation, is because both can be seen by a person’s relationship with the water. Noah had a different relation to the water than all the people who were lost on the earth. He was safe above the water because he believed and obeyed what God told him. And just like in the case of Noah… your relationship with the water shows whether you are saved or lost.

Noah had the type of relationship with the water that saved him. For those who did not find grace in God’s eyes, their relationship to the water caused them to perish.


As for the second part of that verse: “The like figure whereunto even now baptism doth now save us”, we can understand that – because of what God has instructed (Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38), your relationship with the water will show where you stand when the final judgement of God comes. If you by faith like Noah, obey God, you will be baptized in water for the remission of your sins (in the name of Jesus Christ). If you choose not to obey God – or not to believe God, then sin will keep you separated from God. This separation is the reason that many will be lost.

In summary, we can see that the account of Noah is another example of the grace of God and faith; God first telling Noah what was going to happen and how to be saved. And Noah believing it by faith, was saved.

The last example that we will look at in this lesson shows how faith relates to our salvation through Christ. In the book of Acts chapter 8 we read the account of the Ethiopian eunuch. We will pay close attention to how his faith was seen in salvation. To keep the full context, let’s begin in verse 26 of Acts chapter 8, where Phillip is being instructed by the Holy Spirit:

Acts 8:26-29
²⁶ And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. ²⁷ And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, ²⁸ Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. ²⁹ Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.

One thing I just want to point out here is how the Holy Spirit works. The way that He is dealing with Philip is by giving him one step at a time. As we saw earlier, you should ‘have your shoes on and be ready’ once you have accepted the Lord’s salvation. It is a walk of faith and it is one step at a time.

First, the Holy Spirit tells Phillip – ‘Go, get up and go – head south, Philip’. Philip hears that and by faith, he heads out. At this point he doesn’t know what he’s going there for. And then as he gets closer, the Holy Spirit gives him the next step: ‘Okay, you see that chariot over there, go join yourself to that chariot’. So Philip obeys. Verse 30 reads:

Acts 8:30-38
³⁰ And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? ³¹ And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.

³² The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: ³³ In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. ³⁴ And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? ³⁵ Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.

³⁶ And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? ³⁷ And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. ³⁸ And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.

In this example, we have someone who at first did not know anything about Jesus, and we see how he was saved. The eunuch was just reading the Old Testament. And from that, Phillip taught him and preached Jesus to him. When they came near some water while Phillip was preaching to him about Jesus, the eunuch said “See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?” This lets us know that baptism is a part of preaching Jesus.

And in response to the eunuch, Philip gave one answer: “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.” It was about his belief – Philip was showing him that faith is necessary. Remember, “He that cometh to God must believe…” (Hebrews 11:6). Then the eunuch confessed “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

So if you believe, then this is how you show your faith; this is how your faith is seen, by being baptized. And that’s exactly what we see here.

COME TO GOD

You might hear people say that baptism is an outward expression of an inward faith – and to a certain extent that is true. But most people who say that, think that a person is baptized just to show other people their faith. However, the true answer is that the One who you are actually showing your faith to, is God. Just like God said about the blood of the lamb to the children of Israel, ‘when I see the blood I will pass over you.”

Now that we have looked at examples of following God’s instruction by faith, we can see why our relationship to the water is important. Because of what God instructs us to do, baptism shows our faith towards God – just like the children of Israel showed their faith to God by following His instructions about the blood of the lamb. We could look deeper into the connection between the blood and the water, but that will be for another lesson.

Hopefully, this lesson gives more clarity on what we read in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8, ‘for you are saved by grace through faith, not of yourselves…’ This scripture is 100% true, and we must have a proper understanding of it, letting the rest of scripture tell us – what does grace actually mean? What does faith actually mean? What does faith look like? Is it just believing or is there something more to it?

So, if you are someone who has not yet put your faith in Jesus Christ by obeying the gospel, you can come to God by repenting of your sins and putting on Christ through baptism, as it says in Acts chapter 2 verse 38. After hearing the gospel, the people asked Peter “What shall we do?” Peter said “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”. That is the instruction that was given.

Remember, God began this way of salvation with John the Baptist, and it was even prophesied before that. This was going to be the Way that God would provide for our salvation – by faith in His Son, and obedience to Him.

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